Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A different kind of performance vehicle


Readers may recall viewing video clips on this blog of Ken Block's Gymkhana series of car stunts. You'll find them at his YouTube channel, if you missed them earlier. Here's a repeat of his original Gymkhana video, filmed at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California. It's been viewed well over ten million times on YouTube, which gives you some idea of how popular it is!







A few months ago, Mike Ryan, who races heavy trucks, decided to see whether he could repeat Ken Block's Gymkhana performance in his 10,000-pound behemoth, on the same course. Here's how it went.







Not content with that, he entered this year's Climb To The Clouds race up Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Everyone else was driving rally or sports cars . . . but Mr. Ryan decided to do it the hard way, in his racing truck. Here's the result.







I rallied a bit in South Africa during my younger days; but never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought of taking so large, heavy and unwieldy a vehicle up a road like that, at a speed like that!





Peter

1 comment:

Noons said...

And on top of all that, on a wet track!
This guy is certifiable...